Deadly Content Sins: The Dangers of Blending in

Content is not a formula you can pick and plug your name, your business’ name, and select details about who you are and what you do into a mad libs-style document and suddenly have brilliant, witty, engaging copy that resonates with you, is on-brand, and pulls your ideal audience in like a magnet. But a lot of the time, businesses treat it like that.

They see something they like, and they imitate. While it’s been said that’s the sincerest form of flattery, it’s also one of the fastest ways to get a) smacked with a plagiarism suit or b) side-eyed by your ideal audience for serious lack of originality.

When you try to take the formulaic approach, something really unsettling happens - you are no longer present in your content. Your personality, your heart, your fire - the things that make your business and brand unique - they disappear. That causes some serious dissonance for your readers and brand engagers, because the you they see in some parts of your business seems so vastly different from the you they see in your content. That’s a problem.

THE FIX: EMBRACE YOUR PERSONALITY

Be YOU you beautiful butterfly. Your personality is an integral part of what makes your business different. YOU are a huge part of your brand - the sooner you embrace the power in that, the better. Sure, people will buy your product or your service, but more likely, they are going to buy because they trust your personality and your brand’s personality.

Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT blend into the sea of same businesses with same fonts and same messaging and absolutely zero true personality. Even if what you offer is groundbreaking, if you do it with someone else’s personality, your audience will notice, and they will walk away.

You can look to others to get general concept of what you might be interested in doing with your content, but don’t model your content after the efforts of others. If you’re sitting there thinking you aren’t original enough to figure it out without imitating someone else, I’ve got news for you. You started a company, you are running that sucker with all you have. You are endlessly creative and original.

ACTION ITEM

Make a list of your favorite qualities about you. Now, list three ways you can apply each of those qualities to your content. Then take fifteen minutes and jot down all the types of content you could create that would allow you to infuse those favorite qualities.

(hint: if one of your favorite things about you and your brand is that you’re outdoorsy and committed to spending time outside, create a blog series about how you and your employees live that, or develop an ebook about making the most of the nature around you, and incorporate your products or services into that story.)